"A smart grid is one of the holy grails of 'green' technology, enabling utilities to deliver resources when and where they're needed and reduce resources when they're not," says Brendan Coffey.

In The Cabot Green Investor, he explains, "There are larger companies in the smart metering arena, but Echelon (NASDAQ: ELON) has posted some significant wins in the marketplace recently and appears primed to generate more."

"Right now, grids are set up to provide as much power as needed at peak times, all the time. Studies show that when customers are part of a smart grid, and have more information to reduce energy usage, demand is slashed by up to 50%, particularly in areas where rates are discounted depending on the time of day.

"A smart grid makes use of coded signals that travel along power lines, much like DSL broadband messages move through the phone telephone," explains growth stock expert Jim Powell.

In Global Changes & Opportunities Report, he looks at two favorite plays on the development of a smart grid: Esco Technologies (NYSE: ESE) and Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR).

"In a smart grid, the signals allow electric meters to report power consumption automatically to suppliers. At the same time, signals can be sent to customer's appliances such as freezers and refrigerators to prevent them from cycling on and off at the same time.

"American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC) should benefit from an update of the nation's power grid," says Jim Powell.

Here, the editor of Global Changes & Opportunities Report reviews this leading manufacturer of more efficient high temperature superconductor-based wires and cables.

"I've been writing about infrastructure stocks ever since it became apparent that big federal spending programs were on the way. I believe American Superconductor will perform very well. In fact, its price has already started to rise.

"American Superconductor is not yet profitable. However, the company is well past the development stage. AMSC makes high temperature superconductor (HTS) wires and cables that carry as much as 150 times the current as conventional products of the same weight and diameter.

"The Obama administration is poised to spend a lot of money on infrastructure; one important sector is the the nation's electric power grid and the communications system," notes growth stock advisor Dave Dyer.

In his Dave Dayer's Newsletter, he explains, "Some products will win big, others will get nothing, but one company will get more business regardless of which products win: Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR), the leading electrical contractor in the country.

"Quanta's service business stands ready to expand with the infrastructure buildout no matter which products are selected.

"They do design, installation, maintenance, and repair on just about any type of network infrastructure (electric power, telecom, broadband cable, and gas pipelines.) Their moat against competitors is size. They are the largest in their field and that is in no danger of changing.

"The new administration will likely soon launch a new spending program to put people back to work and boost the economy," says Jim Powell, adding, "That's even more likely now that the financial crisis is in full swing and growth is declining."

In his Global Changes & Opportunities Report he looks at General Cable (NYSE: BGC) as a play on the rebuilding of the nation's electric power grid.

"Politicians at all levels have also voiced strong support for rebuilding our woefully inadequate infrastructure. Because building roads, bridges, electrical grids, and so on, will employ many voters, I think allocations for such projects will go to the top of the government's spending list.

"That's especially true since infrastructure projects will also funnel billions of dollars to state and local governments that are facing hard times. All in all, modernizing the the electric power grid should be another very pro?table long-term investment.

"I believe the most promising beneficiary of the electric power project will be General Cable. The company produces products for a wide variety of applications including large cables for long distribution networks.

Wind and solar, two renewable energy sources with a promising future, nevertheless face a bottleneck of sorts in the United States: the electric power grid. The existing grid can not handle the new demands, The New York Times reported Wednesday, forcing renewable wind and solar sites to shut down, even when conditions are right to generate and sell power.

An infrastructure-challenged U.S.

Economist Glen Langan says there's a theme that keeps popping up in the U.S. economy in the early 21st century: inadequate infrastructure. "We're a nation of inadequate infrastructures: the power grid, air travel/air traffic control, railways, highways... pick an infrastructure and you'll see a network that can't handle present demands, let alone an expanded national economy in 2020 or 2030," Langan said.

The power grid bottleneck is particularly frustrating and damaging because both wind and solar power generation systems are mushrooming, and could, with an adequate grid, account for more than 20% of the nation's power needs, Langan said, adding that some economic models put renewable energy's potential contribution even higher, at 25% or more.

"Imagine T. Boone Pickens building his massive, multi-billion dollar wind mill farm and having it sit idle because the grid cannot tolerate and transmit the increased power? Pretty sad," Langan said.

Just call NRG Energy the power generator with renovation and reclamation on its mind.

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) is a wholesale power generating company that owns/operates power plants with a net capacity of 24,175 megawatts.

A majority of NRG's revenue is baseload power. The significance? A stable cash flow. Further NRG's power source is largely natural gas-based, which is preferred, given likely additional restrictions/regulations moving forward for coal-fired plants as nations like the U.S. address climate change. NRG's power source mix: 45% natural gas, 34% coal, 16% oil, 5% nuclear.

NRG's strategy is to repower existing facilities and develop new generating capacity in markets where NRG owns assets, with an emphasis on baseload capacity, long-term power sales agreements, efficiency, and environmental enhancements. So far, NRG's business is on-track. The Reuters Fiscal Year (FY) 2007/2008 EPS consensus estimates for NRG are $2.24 to $2.26.